Monday, August 16, 2010

This weeks Foodie Fight challenge involves pairing tamarind and brown sugar together in a recipe. Most people are used to using brown sugar in the kitchen, but tamarind…not so much.

Tamarind is a fruit from the tamarind tree. The fruit is shaped like a tanned long bean, inside of which lies a reddish-brown sour pulp containing many seeds. The pulp is a staple in Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine. Tamarind is a key ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. Who knew?

A good source of fiber, tamarinds are also abundant in B vitamins, blood pressure lowering potassium and magnesium. Though most people don’t consume nearly enough magnesium, a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition involving more than 64,000 women reported that high intakes of this mineral is protective against type 2 diabetes. It appears magnesium helps improve blood sugar control.

Tamarind comes in three main forms - pods, paste, and concentrate - a thick, dark, ready to use syrup sold in jars. The paste is pulp pressed into block form and what I used for this recipe.

This is about 4 ounces of tamarind paste in block form.

You can find tamarind paste and concentrate at any Asian or Indian market and it adds a nice touch of tangy sweetness to glazes, soups, vinaigrette's and this sweet and sour chutney.

Our fish monger had a great deal on red snapper this week but you could use tilapia, catfish, sole or other white fleshed fish in this recipe as well. With a bunch of local peaches in the fridge, I decided to serve a super easy peach gazpacho as an appetizer and have included this excellent recipe. It’s a perfect cold soup for a sultry August night.

If this makes you want to lick your screen, consider heading over to Foodie Fights on Tuesday and voting for moi.

In a large bowl, pour boiling water over tamarind paste and let sit 30 minutes. If using seeds, toast them over medium heat in a dry skillet until fragrant and darkened, about 2 minutes. Grind seeds in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle (I used this). Place a sieve with large holes such as a metal colander over a saucepan and pour in tamarind water mixture. Press down on pulp to extract as much liquid as possible. In the saucepan will be a syrupy dark liquid. Add sugar, cumin, coriander, fennel, currants, chili powder and salt to the saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Combine peaches, water, cucumber, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a blender. Process until well combined but still somewhat chunky. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Place peach gazpacho in serving bowls, stir in cilantro and top with red pepper, avocado and onion.